“Trump pardon list including Blackwater and GOP allies clashes with federal execution spree; Trump’s corrosive use of the pardon power and his rush to execute federal death row inmates will cement his presidency as one of the most unjust in history”: Law professor Jessica Levinson has this essay online at NBC News.

“Essential Mitch: The Judges.” You can access the new installment of NPR’s “Embedded” podcast via this link.

“Florida business in bankruptcy can’t get PPP loan, appeal court rules”: Jim Saunders of the News Service of Florida has this report on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued yesterday.

Judges calling balls and strikes: Circuit Judge Frank H. Easterbrook issued this interesting opinion yesterday on behalf of a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in a case in which that court appointed a former Kavanaugh #SCOTUS clerk, Megan Lacy Owen, as amicus curiae to defend the judgment.

“The 2012 Tiahrt Rider prohibits the ATF from disclosing the data that Everytown [for Gun Safety Support Fund] seeks in its FOIA request, and the district court therefore erred in granting summary judgment to Everytown.” So rules a unanimous two-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a decision issued today.

“Appellate court rejects Orrington church’s appeal on Janet Mills’ gathering limits”: Judy Harrison of The Bangor Daily News has an article that begins, “An Orrington church’s appeal challenging Gov. Janet Mills’ coronavirus-related gathering limits was rejected on technical grounds Tuesday by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.”

You can access yesterday’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit at this link.

“Diversifying Appellate World Means Starting at the Beginning”: Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson and Perry Cooper of Bloomberg Law have this report.

“Wisconsin Supreme Court rejects lawsuit to challenge Dane County health order”: Molly Beck of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has this report.

And Riley Vetterkind of The Wisconsin State Journal reports that “Wisconsin Supreme Court rejects immediate review of Dane County public health restrictions.”

You can access Monday’s order of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, and the opinions concurring therein and dissenting therefrom, at this link.

“Mother Forbidden from Mentioning Her Own Name in Criticizing Custody Decision — and the Pa. S. Ct. Upholds This; The Pennsylvania Supreme Court 5-2 majority concludes that the injunction is ‘content-neutral,’ quite erroneously, I think”: Eugene Volokh has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy” about a decision Pennsylvania’s highest court issued yesterday that Eugene thinks could be reviewed and reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Yesterday’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania consists of a majority opinion, a concurring opinion, and a dissenting opinion.

“Challenging police violence . . . while Black: African Americans bear an outsize burden of aggressive policing; And when they try to hold cops accountable for excessive force, the doctrine of qualified immunity reinforces the inequity.” Andrea Januta, Andrew Chung, Jaimi Dowdell, and Lawrence Hurley of Reuters have this report — part four of the Reuters Investigates series “Shielded: How an obscure legal doctrine called qualified immunity protects police accused of excessive force.”

“Houston judge Jesse McClure appointed to Texas Court of Criminal Appeals by Gov. Greg Abbott; McClure will replace Judge Michael Keasler, 78, who is retiring at the end of this year”: Emma Platoff of The Texas Tribune has this report.

“Federal Circuit Was Untouched by Trump Judicial Nominations”: Perry Cooper of Bloomberg Law has this report.

“What Will It Take to Get a Black Woman on the Supreme Court? The fate of Biden’s campaign promise lies with Georgia.” Irin Carmon has this post at the “Intelligencer” blog of New York Magazine.

“Google Chrome Now Blocks Insecure Downloads from Secure Websites; Many Court Website are Insecure; Chrome now blocks download links on How Appealing from insecure court sites”: Josh Blackman has this noteworthy post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

For what it’s worth, I agree with Josh that court websites should feature up-to-date security settings. On the other hand, my installed version of Google Chrome claims to be the most current (Version 87), and I am not experiencing any issues with opening links posted at my blog to opinions found on court websites that Josh labels as insecure.

“In a reversal, Pa. Supreme Court says police can’t search cars without a warrant”: Samantha Melamed of The Philadelphia Inquirer has this report.

And Mark Scolforo of The Associated Press reports that “Court alters police rules for warrantless vehicle searches.”

Today’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania consists of a majority opinion, a concurring opinion, and three dissenting opinions (here, here, and here).

“Pa. Supreme Court: Doctors cannot be sued for failing to commit Western Psych shooter.” Paula Reed Ward of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has this report.

Today’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania consists of a majority opinion, two concurring opinions (here and here), and a dissenting opinion.

“A Retrospective of the Trump Administration’s Impact on Our Courts”: The Alliance for Justice issued this report today.

“Trump levels criticism against Brian Hagedorn to 88 million Twitter followers”: Molly Beck of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has this report.

And Mitchell Schmidt of The Wisconsin State Journal reports that “Donald Trump takes aim at Wisconsin Supreme Court justice Brian Hagedorn over election ruling.”

“Will Biden Use His Powers to Crush the Death Penalty?” Andrew Cohen has this post at the “Intelligencer” blog of New York Magazine.

“Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch: The Complete Clerk Roster For October Term 2020; With Justice Barrett’s first set of clerks, plus the destinations of the late Justice Ginsburg’s clerks.” David Lat has this post at his new “Original Jurisdiction” Substack site.

“Patients, clinic sue Indiana over abortion tissue disposal laws”: Johnny Magdaleno of The Indianapolis Star has this report.

“The dissent begins by expressing ‘due respect’ to the majority — and then ends with a well-known literary quote about idiots. Post, at 24, 37 & n.39. It concludes that my opinion in this case is worth ‘nothing.’ Id. at 37.” Ignoring my own advice, perhaps someday someone may wish to take a look at a concurring opinion that Fifth Circuit Judge James C. Ho issued yesterday, appended to his own majority opinion, for a case study on the do’s and don’ts of appellate court collegiality.

“Appeals judges affirm lower court’s denial of a new hearing in Loughry case”: Brad McElhinny of West Virginia’s MetroNews has a report that begins, “A federal appeals court has upheld lower court actions in the case of former state Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry.”

You can access yesterday’s ruling of a partially divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit at this link. #AppellateTwitter participant Elbert Lin argued the case for the appellant.

And in related news coverage, Lacie Pierson of The Charleston (W. Va.) Gazette-Mail reported last week that “Former justice Loughry released from federal prison.”

“Though the CAN-SPAM Act came into force almost two decades ago, its criminal provisions have given rise to only a handful of prosecutions, one of which underlies this case.” So observes yesterday’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in an appeal in which #AppellateTwitter participant Hannah Mullen argued as court-appointed amicus.

“Trump Will Face Different Twitter Rules When He Leaves Office; As a public official, Trump tweets with less risk of having his posts taken down or his account suspended; That will change on Jan. 20”: Emily Glazer of The Wall Street Journal has this report.

“Odysseus, Avocados, and Election Litigation Timing”: Law professor Michael C. Dorf has this essay online at Justia’s Verdict.

“Justice Breyer on Whether Judges Get More Liberal as They Get Older”: Dahlia Lithwick has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate — part of that publication’s new list of “80 Over 80.”

And you can access some of the audio from the interview via Slate’s “Amicus” podcast episode titled “Justice Stephen Breyer, in His Own Words: An Interview with the Supreme Court’s eldest sitting justice on life and life’s lessons.”

“High court opening tops Pennsylvania’s 2021 judicial races”: Mark Scolforo of The Associated Press has this report.

“Virus Hits Federal Death Row, Prompting Calls for Delays in Executions; At least 14 of the roughly 50 men held in the secure facility at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., have tested positive; Staff members involved in executions have also gotten sick”: Hailey Fuchs will have this article in Tuesday’s edition of The New York Times.

“By 4-3, state Supreme Court denies governmental immunity in certain discrimination claims”: Michael Karlik of Colorado Politics has this report on two rulings (access here and here) that the Supreme Court of Colorado issued today.

“State Supreme Court sends case about petition to cancel virus restrictions back to state court”: Sam Karlin of The Advocate of Baton Rouge, Louisiana has a report that begins, “The Louisiana Supreme Court has vacated a judge’s ruling that a petition used by state House Republicans to revoke all of Gov. John Bel Edwards’ coronavirus restrictions is unconstitutional, saying the judge prematurely ruled on the constitutionality of the move.”

You can access today’s per curiam ruling of the Supreme Court of Louisiana at this link.

“Fitch to ask U.S. Supreme Court to dismiss lawsuit claiming Jim Crow laws harm public education”: Bobby Harrison of Mississippi Today has this report.

“A 14th Amendment Case That Deserves the Supreme Court’s Attention; It’s time to breathe some life back into the Privileges or Immunities Clause”: Damon Root has this post online at Reason.

“Justice Brian Hagedorn gets extra police protection after ruling against President Trump; Hagedorn, a conservative, told WISN 12 News”: Matt Smith of Milwaukee’s ABC affiliate WISN has this report.

Earlier, Ruth Conniff of Wisconsin Examiner had a report headlined “Anti-Semitic, misogynist attacks on Wisconsin Supreme Court justices after Trump ruling.”

“Texas Challenges Legality of DACA in Latest Bid to End the Program; Judge to revisit case over Obama-era program, leaving young immigrants who benefit from its protections in legal limbo”: Michelle Hackman of The Wall Street Journal has this report.